“Freaks Out”, over 1200 visual effects shots by EDI

Set extension, digital creatures, superpowers, enhancement of bombings and battles in the new film by Gabriele Mainetti in cinemas from October 28th

MILANO, OCTOBER 27 2021

A product that has no equal in the panorama of our cinema and that has nothing to envy to the US blockbusters. After being presented in competition at the 78th Venice Film Festival, Gabriele Mainetti’s “Freaks Out” comes to theatres from October 28 with < strong>01Distribution, produced by Goon Film, Lucky Red and Rai Cinema. The visual effects are handled by EDI Italian Digital Effects, a leading company in Italy and winner of the David di Donatello 2021 for “The incredible story of the rose island”.

All the visual effects of the film were supervised by EDI in the person of Stefano Leoni, Visual Effects Supervisor and partner of EDI, and Elisabetta Rocca, Visual Effects Producer, who after having shared the creation of the effects with two other European companies, they managed and coordinated the creative and logistical aspect of the entire complex project, just as happens in the American studio productions.

The team of over one hundred artists, working in synergy with the director, the editing department, the photography, the set design, special effects and stunts, worked on over 1200 shots full of visual effects including set extensions, creation of digital creatures, superpowers, enhancement of bombings and battles, culminating in the spectacular scenes that characterize the epilogue of the story, made almost entirely in computer graphics.

«Freaks out opens with two sequences with a strong visual impact: on one hand the circus show, on the other the brutality of war bombings. We started collaborating with the director right from the first draft of the screenplay, imagining together how to visually tell the story, the superpowers of the characters and their constant evolution. In fact, our intervention can be seen in the first scenes of the film: the four characters perform in the circus showing their powers when at a certain point the circus is bombed. Gabriele Mainetti’s goal was to give great impact to the tragedy of war through the camera in a long shot immersed in explosions and destruction. Thanks to the pre-production study of the scene, we connected the sequences by adding pathos and dramaà until the collapse of the bell tower. I would also like to underline the great work done with Gabriele for the realization of Matilde’s luminescence and Franz’s dream» tells Stefano Leoni.

EDI for Freaks Out has created a large number of “creatures” such as bees, grasshoppers, fireflies, butterflies, flies, cockroaches and scorpions. To complete their animation, the managers of the EDI Zoo section conducted a meticulous anatomical study which required the construction of skeletons and digital joints which, as in nature, they support the other layers of the creature making its movements realistic.

«Making convincing CGI creatures that can compete with the global market is possible. EDI,creature after creature, is demonstrating that it is possible to produce quality products in Italy that increasingly aim for excellence. For some years now, EDI has been populating a creature shop with basic models of various animals, which can be animated according to the customer’s needs”, explained Giuseppe Chisari, Creature Supervisor called back to Italy after experiences in DNEG and WETA.

The entire operation, from the first sketches to the final result, required months of work, to make the insects moved by Cencio credible, such as the swarm of bees that invades the train carriage or the cockroaches that draw the swastika in Franz’s laboratory.

The pinnacle of the spectacularity of the visual effects is the final sequence. “This sequence was the most ambitious challenge that EDI has faced but also the one that has given us the most satisfaction and emotions. Working with Mainetti, we explored and declined the ideas and expectations of power that this epilogue required, until we achieved a visual result that leaves the viewer speechless», said Elisabetta Rocca.

The CEO of EDI, Francesco Grisi is satisfied with the work. «In this film we were able to express our creativity at 360 degrees. Freaks Out is a film that will make the history of Italian cinema, a film that marked an important chapter in our journey. If I stop to think and remember where my partners and I started, where we have arrived is a place we like! Personally, it gives me satisfaction to read the credits at the cinema, but this time I advise everyone not to get up and watch them to the end!».